SoCon Men’s Basketball recaps for January 13, 2008
APPALACHIAN STATE 91, UNC GREENSBORO 68
BOONE, N.C. - Jeremi Booth scored a team-high 16 points on 5-of-5 shooting and sparked a 19-2 first-half run to highlight Appalachian State University men’s basketball’s impressive 91-68 rout over Southern Conference North Division-rival UNC Greensboro on Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Center.
All five of Booth’s field goals, including four three-pointers, came in the first half as Appalachian (9-6, 4-2 SoCon) opened up a commanding 46-30 halftime lead. ASU led by as many as 22 points at 30-8 following the 19-2 first-half spurt, which included eight-straight points from the redshirt freshman from Altavista, Va.
UNCG (9-6, 3-3 SoCon) cut the Mountaineer advantage to 11 less than five minutes into the second period, but the Apps responded with a 17-8 run over the next
7:53 to seal their fourth-straight victory overall and sixth win in their last seven outings. ASU shot 58.9 percent from the field and 52.2 percent from three-point range in the win. A stout defensive effort held the Spartans to 38.5 percent shooting.
In addition to Booth’s 16, Ryann Abraham (Mayaguez, Puerto Rico) also came off the bench to score 15, while Donald Sims (Gaffney, S.C./Fork Union) added 14 and Donte Minter (Salisbury, N.C./West Rowan) chipped in with 11. Jeremy Clayton (Greensboro, N.C./Ben L. Smith) finished one rebound shy of matching a career-high with 13 to complement his eight points.
As a team, Appalachian set season highs for points, assists (22) and blocked shots (9) and matched its largest margin of victory of the campaign. The squad also had its second-most rebounds of the season with 43 for a 15-rebound advantage over UNCG. ASU’s 91 points also matches the team’s highest output against the Spartans in the series history. All 13 Mountaineers who dressed saw time in the blowout with 10 recording points.
Kyle Hines led the Spartans with 20 points and nine rebounds on 20 total shots, but most of those came with the outcome already decided. The all-conference performer scored just seven points on 3-of-12 shooting in the first half. Kendall Toney and Ben Stywall each finished in double-figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
DAVIDSON 85, WOFFORD 50
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? The Wofford College men’s basketball team was defeated 85-50 by Davidson on Saturday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Wildcats hit their first eight shots of the game on the way to a 21-5 lead and shot 63.2% from the floor for the game.
The Terriers are 8-7 overall and 1-4 in SoCon play. Davidson is 9-6 overall and a perfect 6-0 in conference play. The Terriers were led by Shane Nichols with 14 points and Drew Gibson with eight points. Drew Gibson also led Wofford with five rebounds. Davidson was led by Stephen Curry with 26 points and Will Archambault with 15 points. Boris Meno led all rebounders with nine.
Davidson was hot out of the gate, jumping out to a 10-0 lead just 2:30 into the game. Noah Dahlman scored the first points for the Terriers at 16:29, but the Wilcats increased the lead to 16-2 before a three-pointer by Junior Salters at 13:56. Davidson scored the next five points. The first missed shot by the Wildcats was at 12:45 in the first half.
A three-pointer by Shane Nichols and a lay-up by Noah Dahlman cut the lead to 28-13 at 7:54, but the Wildcats quickly were back up by 23 points. At the half, Davidson held a 45-25 lead and shot 62.1% from the floor.
The second half did not start well for the Terriers, as the Wildcats scored the first seven points of the half. At the 12:00 mark, Davidson held a 66-31 lead after a three-pointer by Bryant Barr. Shane Nichols got three points at the free throw line, which was followed by a jumper from Norm Nixon to cut the lead to 66-34.
Just six minutes later, the Wildcats had extended the lead to 43 at 79-36. The Terriers outscored Davidson 10-2 in the final three minutes, which included a three-pointer by Marcus Jackson and free throws by Andrew Bellebaum for the 85-50 final score.
Shane Nichols led the team in scoring for the eighth of ten games played this season. Wofford shot 35.7% from the floor and were 35.7% from three-point. The Wildcats were 63.2% from the floor and 50.0% from behind the arc. The 63.2% shooting for Davidson was the highest percentage allowed by the Terriers all season. Wofford was outrebounded 36-19, with the margin of 17 the largest of the season by an opponent. Wofford was only 15-32 from the free throw line, while Davidson was a perfect 3-3.
Shane Nichols reached 1,010 points scored as a Terrier. He had 996 points at Wofford entering the game. For his career, including one season at St. Peters, Nichols has 1,316 points. The loss was the biggest for Wofford since a 34-point defeat on December 2, 2006 at Michigan (83-49).
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 73, THE CITADEL 52
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Georgia Southern pulled away from the Citadel in the second-half as the Eagles defeated the Bulldogs, 73-52, in Southern Conference action Saturday afternoon in McAlister Field House. Louis Graham led all scorers and the Eagles with 20 points. With the victory, the Eagles improve to 11-5 (4-2 SoCon) while the Bulldogs slip to 5-10 (0-6 SoCon).
The Eagles were too much for Bulldogs in the second-half as Georgia Southern manufactured a 19-2 run that was started by an Anthony Marshall three pointer from the right corner at 10:01 giving the Eagles their largest lead of the game going down the stretch.
Cameron Wells paced the Bulldogs offensively scoring 16 points and was aided by Tyrell McDowell’s 12 tallies. Georgia Southern controlled the boards on the afternoon, 39-14, with Matthew Fields collecting a game-high eight rebounds. The Citadel was led by McDowell’s four boards.
The Citadel held the lead only twice in the early minutes of the game at 3-2 and 5-4, but kept nipping at the Eagles’ heels throughout the entire first-half. The Bulldogs made a late first-half surge knocking down back-to-back three-pointers by Cameron Wells and Zach Urbanus that knotted the game at 35 with 54 seconds left in the first-half.
Coming out of halftime, Georgia Southern built on their three-point lead using a 14-0 run which began with Marshall’s three-pointer at 10:01 which distanced them from the Bulldogs by 21 points, 68-47.
“We had good ball movement, handled the ball well and our guards, although not there yet, are showing much improvement,” said Citadel coach Ed Conroy. “We did what we could to control the ball with such a fast paced, however, we got a little fatigued but we believe that our guys can and will develop into better ballplayers. Our team played well tonight, unfortunately not enough to push us over in the second-half.”
The Bulldogs will face cross-town rival College of Charleston on Monday, Jan. 14 in front of a televised audience and an expected sellout crowd in McAlister Field House.
“It’s a fun rivalry and I hope the guys enjoy the game,” said Conroy. “It should be an exciting game and we will need a boost of energy from hopefully a lot of support.
CHATTANOOGA 85, WESTERN CAROLINA 55
CHATTANOOGA, TENN. - Junior guard Stephen McDowell (Indianapolis, Ind.) and senior forward Marcus Watts (Clinton, S.C.) each scored a game-high 18 points and junior forward Nicchaeus Doaks (Trenton, Tenn.) recorded a double-double with 13 points and a career-high 13 rebounds as Chattanooga (12-5, 7-0) defeated Western Carolina (5-11, 1-5) 85-55 Saturday afternoon in a Southern Conference men’s basketball game at The McKenzie Arena.
In the opening minutes of the game Western Carolina raced out to a 10-3 advantage before an 11-4 run pulled the Mocs even at 14-14 with 13:28 remaining in the first half. The Catamounts regained the lead, 19-16, at the 12:11 mark but it would be short lived as Chattanooga’s offense came to life.
Over the next 10:32, the Mocs would outscore Western Carolina 21-3 and hold them scoreless for a span of 4:48 to take a commanding 37-22 lead with 1:39 to play in the half. After a mini 5-2 run by WCU, Chattanooga closed out the half with a 39-27 advantage.
In the second half, it was more of the same as the Mocs opened up with a 10-0 run fueled by back-to-back baskets by Watts (Clinton, S.C.) and capped off with a dunk by junior forward Khalil Hartwell (Philadelphia, Pa.) to push their lead to 49-27 with 15:31 remaining in the game. After being held scoreless for the first 4:50 of the second half, Western Carolina rallied to within 55-44 with 9:28 to go behind a 17-6 run.
That would be as close as the Catamounts would get as Chattanooga responded with a 25-6 run of their own over the next 7:00 to put the game well out of reach before closing out the 30-point victory to move to a perfect 7-0 in the Southern Conference.
Sophomore guard Brandon Giles led the way for Western Carolina with 15 points while sophomore guard Brigham Waginger and senior forward Arnold Gore finished with nine and eight points, respectively.
In addition to their 18 points, McDowell and Watts added five three-pointers and eight rebounds, respectively. For Watts, the 18 points represents a career-high, breaking his previous mark of 16 set against Ohio Valley on November 11, 2006. Also setting new career marks were Doaks with his 13 rebounds, surpassing his previous mark of 12 vs. Prairie View on November 25, 2006, and junior forward Kevin Goffney (Ethel, La.), who pulled down 14 rebounds to break his career-high of nine. Hartwell rounded out the double-figure scorers with 12 points and added five rebounds.
As a team, the Mocs shot won the rebounding battle, 59-31, and held the Catamounts to 28.2 percent shooting from the field for the game. The 59 rebounds are a season high for the Mocs.
ELON 60, FURMAN 58
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Furman’s Tony Anderson buried an apparent game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer, but the basket was later waved off allowing Elon to escape with a 60-58 victory over the Paladins in Southern Conference men’s basketball action Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.
Brett James converted a Chris Jones lob with 33 seconds remaining to put Elon ahead 60-58 and Ola Atoyebi earned a one-and-one attempt at the foul line after a Furman turnover. Following an Atoyebi miss and a timeout, Furman inbounded the ball in the front court with 17 seconds left. Bobby Austin missed a three at the top of the key, but Justin Dehm grabbed the loose ball and found Anderson for the apparent game-winning trey from the right wing.
Furman’s fans rushed the court in celebration as the basket was ruled good, but after a conference at mid-court involving the officials, it was determined that the buzzer sounded before the shot was released.
The win improved Elon to 7-9 overall and 5-3 in SoCon play. Furman slumps to 2-14 overall and 1-6 inside the league. The loss overshadowed Alex Opacic’s first career double-double. The junior tallied a career-high 20 points and 11 rebounds on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor.
James paced Elon with 19 points and nine rebounds while Atoyebi added 13 points. The Phoenix shot 43.1% from the floor and converted on 7-of-18 three-point attempts. Furman shot 46.8% from the field, but made just
3-of-14 treys and 11-of-19 free throws. Elon connected on 9-of-12 shots at the charity stripe.
The Phoenix rushed out to a 36-27 halftime lead and stretched their advantage to 46-31 on a Montell Watson three-pointer with 15:20 remaining.
The Paladins responded with a 14-1 run while holding Elon without a field goal for over seven minutes to trim the lead to 47-45 on a pair of Anderson free throws with 7:56 left.
Elon upped the lead to five, but baskets by George Brozos and Connor Nolte cut the lead to one. Opacic pulled Furman even making the front end of a two-shot foul with 4:46 remaining. The lead changed hands three times before Brett James’ jumper gave the Phoenix a four-point lead at the 2:19 mark.
Austin stole an Elon pass and was intentionally fouled on his way to the basket. After the freshman sunk both free throws, Opacic hit a short jumper in the lane to tie the game at 58-58 with 1:05 remaining. Austin followed with the catch and layup for the eventual game-winning basket.
Furman out-rebounded the Phoenix 32-29. It marked the first time this season that the Paladins gained the edge on the glass. Furman committed 16 turnovers while Elon was guilty of 13 miscues.